Sunflower Wraith

Before anyone knew it, black clouds churned over Sword Plaza, while winds swept the clouds together.

Howling gales surged in from every direction, setting the vast Spiritual Energy trembling. The air pressure suddenly plummeted, making hairs stand on end and joints rattle.

Ye Fan's ribs had been broken by the fall, his organs shattered. Even the Spiritual Pressure in his Dantian, which he had barely maintained with a secret art, had been disrupted by Chuyan's words. His Qi Sea scattered, and he collapsed limply to the ground...

Yet at that moment, he forced himself upright. His limbs twitched, twisted, and tangled. His hands actually tore a bloody gash open across his forehead.

A huge white eyeball bulged out from within, while an indescribable black thing split out from his chest. It suddenly extended countless tentacles and, with the speed of a thunderclap before one could cover one's ears, dragged the two Law Enforcers into its bottomless chest cavity.

All of this happened within mere breaths!

Someone in the crowd suddenly cried out.

"Wraith!"

At the mention of Wraiths, everyone blanched in terror. None dared look, and they turned to flee.

Several thousand disciples quickly descended into chaos, shouting as they ran:

"Senior Brother Ye Fan has gone mad from cultivation deviation!"

"No, Junior Brother Ye Fan was a Wraith from the start!"

"No, that bastard summoned the Wraith!"

"He's an Apostle!"

The situation was urgent and the scene chaotic; every kind of claim was being thrown around...

Although Inner Sect Disciples held anti-Wraith drills every year, in a thousand years, there had only been one instance of a Wraith appearing within the Mountain-Guarding Grand Array.

Tracing it back, that had happened yesterday!

Yesterday's circumstances had been completely different.

At the time, the Wraith had appeared on Sword-Wielding Mountain. The Sword-Wielding Elder had been present, as had several other free elders. The moment the Wraith appeared, it vanished into nothing before the disciples even had time to react.

But now, a Wraith had appeared unusually low over Sword Plaza!

The Sword-Wielding Elder was away.

The Alchemy Elder was on Hundred Herbs Peak, twenty miles away.

Master Boyun, the Disciplinary Elder, and the Sword-Tempering Elder were all repairing and maintaining the grand array, unable to extricate themselves at once.

This was extremely dangerous!

"Golden Core Wraith!"

The two Law Enforcers died on the spot. The Wraith swiftly absorbed their Spiritual Power, completing its advancement from Foundation Establishment to the Golden Core Realm.

Bearing a sorrow as desolate as primordial antiquity and a vast, silent pressure, everyone suddenly felt their breath congeal. It was as though countless invisible giant hands capable of tearing space apart were ripping at their spiritual roots from afar.

It also felt as if viscous, indistinct, eerie syllables were striking everyone's souls again and again, like gods and demons tolling a bell.

Facing the two Law Enforcers who had vanished into the dark abyss, Luo Sheng narrowed his eyes, his bloated body seeming somewhat heavy.

His eyelid suddenly twitched. He reacted swiftly and shouted to the crowd, "All disciples below the Golden Core Realm, retreat into the underground residences!"

"The elders are maintaining the grand array and must not risk fighting the enemy, lest higher-level Wraiths exploit an opening. We Golden Core disciples must join forces against it."

"Junior Niece Jiang, take Junior Brother Xiao and leave this place at once!"

Chuyan was still completely dazed.

A living person turning into a Wraith in broad daylight? Chuyan had never seen anything like this. Her little face was pale, her eyes frozen, her mind utterly blank. She had not heard Luo Sheng calling her at all.

Not until Xiao Ran's palm resonated as he patted her dog head, with its cute Daoist bun.

"Wake up!"

Only then did Chuyan jolt awake. Knowing the danger was extreme, she grabbed Xiao Ran and tried to leave.

"Let's hurry and go!"

Xiao Ran had no intention of leaving. He had a feeling that this Wraith had come specifically for him.

If he fled and the Wraith pursued him relentlessly, who knew how many people would die along the way.

With dozens of Golden Core disciples present, there was still hope. Besides, Master Boyun of the Body Integration Realm was guarding the array on Main Peak. At the critical moment, he might take the risk and intervene.

"We are Sword-Wielders. How could we leave?"

Chuyan was stunned. She stared blankly at Xiao Ran. This Xiao Ran, who looked refined and unrestrained, actually had such a hard edge to him.

She had no choice. If Xiao Ran would not leave, she could only stay with him and brace herself.

Black clouds rolled, fierce winds whistled, and mournful shrieks tore through their souls.

Everyone steadied their minds.

Other than Xiao Ran, the more than thirty people on Sword Plaza were all in the Golden Core Realm. There were Inner Sect Instructors, elite disciples, and sect masters or elders from Zongzhi Mountain's branch sects.

Amid the mournful Wraith sounds, the Wraith gradually revealed its complete form.

Ye Fan's head had unexpectedly remained intact, but a massive white eyeball had occupied his features, making him look horrifying beyond measure.

Countless tiny white dots were reflected within the eyeball. Packed densely together, they continuously opened and closed, shifted forms and positions, and assembled into bizarre patterns that seized the soul.

Ye Fan's body was long gone. Hundreds and thousands of slender tentacles sprouted from his head and circled around it, like a Sunflower suspended in the air.

Of these, the four tentacles evolved from Ye Fan's limbs were especially thick and strong. They were likely attacking tentacles.

Aside from devouring the two Law Enforcers at the beginning, the Sunflower Wraith did not continue attacking the others.

Instead, it hovered before Xiao Ran and emitted an indistinct, low murmur.

"I... am the one with... Great Emperor Potential..."

Fine, you are. Your whole family has it too! Xiao Ran could not be bothered competing with a Wraith over talent. He stared at the densely packed white dots inside that pale giant eye.

He suddenly realized that the white dots seemed to share some kind of linked reaction with the spread-out tentacles.

"Not good!"

He guessed that the Wraith was likely using these white dots to hypnotize the surrounding Golden Core cultivators, then using its tentacles to draw out everyone's Spiritual Power and advance itself! "Everyone, spread out! This thing is hypnotizing us!"

Everyone abruptly came to their senses and only then discovered that their Spiritual Pressure was slowly leaking away at an almost imperceptible rate.

Just then—

Three sword shadows flew rapidly from the northern sky.

"Ring Sword Array!"

Twelve flying swords plunged down vertically, embedding themselves a zhang beyond the Wraith and blocking most of its tentacles.

In the blink of an eye, the three sword shadows landed before the crowd.

"All Golden Core cultivators, retreat! It's draining Spiritual Power!"

The speaker was none other than Chen Gongxing.

Two other Inner Sect Instructors stood behind him.

All three were Nascent Soul cultivators! Only then did those on Sword Plaza breathe a sigh of relief. They quickly cupped their fists and said,

"Senior Brother Chen, Senior Brother Zhang, Senior Brother Ouyang."

Chen Gongxing glanced at the Wraith. Even his weathered, cracked face revealed a look of scalp-crawling dread.

"No need for formalities. I happened to invite these two senior brothers to Sword Plaza to watch the battle, but I did not expect our timing to be so fortunate."

Senior Brother Zhang and Senior Brother Ouyang were both rather old, veteran instructors of the sect. The two cupped their fists toward Luo Sheng.

"Apologies. We were too late to save the two junior brothers."

"No one could have expected this. The fact that the three senior brothers arrived in time has already saved all of us."

Luo Sheng let it go and promptly told the three, "We'll leave this place to you three senior brothers. The other Golden Core senior brothers, junior nephews, and I will direct the disciples' evacuation."

The Golden Core disciples withdrew in an orderly manner, each returning to their assigned areas to direct the disciples and guard against new Wraiths.

Only Xiao Ran, Chuyan, and the three Nascent Soul instructors remained on Sword Plaza.

Chen Gongxing patted Xiao Ran on the shoulder.

"You leave too."

"Me?"

Xiao Ran frowned.

What happened to option one for a Sword-Wielder? Chen Gongxing said,

"The last time was merely a theoretical assessment, and it proved I had not misjudged you. You truly are a Sword-Wielder of exceptional talent. But you are only at Qi Refining. It is not yet time for you to enter the battlefield. If you die here, then three days from now, it will be my turn to die on Sword-Wielding Mountain."

Xiao Ran calmly shook his head, feeling that Chen Gongxing was underestimating the Wraith.

"We are already on the battlefield."

The two elderly Nascent Soul instructors paid even less heed to the Wraith.

"Master Boyun is watching from the mountaintop. If there is real danger, he will risk using Array Thunder to save you. Relax. Just treat it as a trial."

Xiao Ran smiled helplessly.

"The Wraith will not give me a trial."

With that, he casually slashed out with his sword. Though driven by Spiritual Power, with the sword force stacking layer upon layer and roaring like a dragon, it was still swiftly devoured by the Wraith in the end.

The sword strike that had instantly killed Ye Fan was nothing but a fart before this Wraith.

"This Wraith is different. Its white eye can shift its shape, and it has too many tentacles that are too thin. Working together, they can draw out Spiritual Power at speed through an eerie form of hypnosis. It may evolve like a snowball rolling downhill."

The older Senior Brother Ouyang stroked his beard and said,

"No need for panic. A Wraith is also a living creature. Could three Nascent Soul cultivators like us not handle a single Golden Core Wraith?"

The three figures flashed, forming a horned encirclement around the Wraith.

"Samadhi True Li Fire!"

Three streams of yellow flames from the Nascent Soul Stage burst forth, burning toward the Wraith and merging into white flames upon its body.

The Wraith was swiftly burned to ashes, only to crawl out from the ashes a moment later and condense its Sunflower form anew.

"Hm?"

Even more unbelievable, the Wraith absorbed the Nascent Soul power within the flames and rapidly advanced into a Nascent Soul Wraith!

The three were thunderstruck.

"How is that possible?!"

"What kind of damned Wraith is this?"

Perhaps it was a Great Emperor Wraith!

That was what Xiao Ran thought.

The Wraith transformed from Ye Fan seemed to possess Great Emperor Potential among Wraiths, endlessly absorbing Spiritual Power, constantly resurrecting from death and evolving...

There were normally only two ways to deal with a Wraith.

The first was to unleash a long-range spell with immense Spiritual Pressure, suppressing it in one stroke with power beyond the limit of its Spiritual Power absorption, and destroying its physical body.

Unfortunately, the sure-fire Samadhi True Li Fire had failed.

That left only the second option—close-range sword combat, physically sending it to salvation.

Chen Gongxing, the best swordsman among the three, flashed forward.

He stepped close to the Wraith and brought his sword down in a direct slash.

Now it was Nascent Soul against Nascent Soul! Even with Chen Gongxing's solid movement technique and first-rate swordsmanship, he could not win quickly. Before long, the Wraith's four thick limb-tentacles tangled around him, drawing him into a bitter struggle.

Whenever one sword strike cut a tentacle open, it immediately grew back on the spot...

The speed of his sword swings could not even keep up with the tentacles' rate of growth. Had Chen Gongxing's movement technique not been so reliable, placing each step in the tentacles' blind spots, he would have been dead already.

Seeing this, the two old men finally realized the gravity of the problem. Advanced in years, their movement techniques had too many flaws; going up would only send them to their deaths. They raised their heads and called, "This is not a Wraith that we Nascent Soul cultivators can resolve! Senior Brother Chen must not die. Senior Brother Master Boyun, please swiftly bring down Array Thunder and kill this Wraith!"

At the array core on Main Peak.

Master Boyun sat cross-legged in silence, unable to make a decision.

On Sword Plaza, behind the two old men, Xiao Ran—who had been treated as empty air all this while—led Chuyan forward to stand before them.

"Wait!"

Xiao Ran felt that the Humanoid Wraith which had appeared on Sword-Wielding Mountain yesterday was likely connected to this Wraith in some way.

That Wraith had known how to weigh the situation when it saw a powerful opponent, fleeing in a puff of smoke.

And the predecessor of this Wraith, Ye Fan, had also been a scheming bastard. During their previous battle, he had deliberately used the stone wall as a trap, luring Xiao Ran to break through it and crash into the Black Tower.

Thus, the Sunflower Wraith before them was likely smarter than anyone imagined. It might be setting a trap! If high-level Wraiths were currently lying in ambush outside the Mountain-Guarding Grand Array, then the moment Array Thunder struck and exposed a flaw, they could exploit the opening. With Master absent and the sect master in sleeping cultivation, Zongzhi Mountain might be destroyed because of this.

But Chen Gongxing had already fallen into a bitter fight and could lose his life at any moment. True Person Yinyue was still on her way, and she was not skilled in battle either...

The situation was urgent. They could not delay any longer. Xiao Ran immediately formed a plan and said to the two elderly instructors,

"Please, two senior brothers, protect me here and guard against a Wraith ambush. Give me one hundred breaths."

At this point, the two instructors no longer dared put on airs because of their age.

"Fine."

Xiao Ran then said to Chuyan behind him, "Send Spiritual Power into my Dantian."

Chuyan paused slightly and reminded him softly,

"Can you withstand Golden Core Spiritual Power?"

Xiao Ran was speechless. At a time like this, she was still dwelling on such a trivial matter! "Why didn't you ask whether I could withstand it when you pinned me beneath you last night?"

The two elderly instructors' faces stiffened. For a long time, they could not keep up with the younger generation's train of thought.

Without blushing or missing a beat, Chuyan stood behind Xiao Ran and gathered Spiritual Energy in her palm.

She did not even need to bend over. Raising her palm placed it directly against the back of Xiao Ran's Dantian.

With a push of her palm, an immense surge of Golden Core Spiritual Power blasted into Xiao Ran's Qi Sea! "Pfft—"

Xiao Ran could not withstand it and spat out a mouthful of blood. Gritting his teeth, he steadied himself.

"Could you be a little gentler?"

"Oh, all right."